With the introduction of a new major character, the House crew are taking a big leap into the unknown, and I'm curious to see what happens next. Yes, in "Not Cancer" we meet Lucas, a private investigator hired by House to do his dirty work. And dirty work he does, but not always precisely what House expects him to do.

I have to say that I was dubious about the character and when he began his first scene, I was prepared to dislike him...but he quickly grew on me. And the way he turned the tables on House throughout the episode made me think he might just be a valuable addition to the cast.

Overall, I thought this was a very enjoyable episode and an improvement over last week, although there was so much going on that it occasionally felt crowded. We had the introduction of Lucas, House spying on Wilson and everyone else, and the patient of the week, along with the Ducklings and Cuddy thrown in for good measure. (So crowded that they had Chase doing brain surgery, just so he could appear!)

Mind you, I could have done without the return of last week's pointless torture, and this time it wasn't even torture of the patient of the week. Why in the world would they do a colonoscopy of a four-year-old without anesthesia? Thirteen's "we need her to tell us when it hurts" was a load of crap. (And why wasn't the mother in the room? If you're gonna give my kid a colonoscopy with or without anesthesia, I'm there holding her hand, believe me.)

Another thing that confused me was the scene with Wilson's replacement. I loved House showing up in the cafeteria and treating him like Wilson just to see what happens, and I wondered how that was going to tie in to everything else...and then the new oncologist got dropped for the rest of the episode. I'm hoping that this storyline will be followed up in later episodes, because it seemed a bit lost here.

In fact, because of the introduction of Lucas and House's yearning for Wilson, pretty much everyone else got the short end of the stick this week, but the House and Lucas show was amusing enough to make up for it. Whether I'll feel that way in a few weeks is another question entirely, of course.

But I loved Lucas' insights into House and the way he anticipated him on several occasions. (For example, when he reveals that he has been spying on Wilson. "That'll be $900." Heh.) Unlike the ducklings and Wilson and Cuddy, Lucas doesn't hesitate to hit House where it hurts (for example, pointing out that now that he's lost Wilson, he's paying someone to listen to him).

And then at the end, House turns the tables and tricks Lucas into sabotage in order to force the brain surgery and prove that he's right. Yeah, Lucas, House is trickier than you thought.

The Patient of the Week (who I kept referring to as Penny, based on her role in Dr. Horrible) was fairly interesting, although we didn't get as much insight into her as usual, due to the Lucas and Wilson storylines.

I was interested by her immediate lie to try and convince the other woman to allow the brain biopsy on her husband ("I lied to save my life, wouldn't you?"), and by House's realization that her view of the world as dull and awful was actually a symptom. Their earlier conversation--especially "Do you think the world would be any different if your leg was better?"--was very interesting, and I was expecting House's diagnosis to prove she was right, not prove she was wrong.

I loved their final conversation ("You weren't seeing what everyone else was seeing." "And now things will be beautiful?""Things will be what they are."). Too bad we can be fairly sure House didn't take away any lessons about the world from her.

And, as we could have expected, he hasn't learned anything whatsoever from Wilson's decision to leave. He didn't just go to Wilson's apartment to annoy him, he really and truly believed that if he showed up and demanded an epiphany, Wilson would give in. He was actually surprised that Wilson would shut the door in his face. It makes one wonder if it's even possible for him to learn a lesson about friendship. (I rather suspect not, much as I love the character of House.)

"Not Cancer" was an interesting bridge into the new season and the new reality without Wilson (for however long it lasts). Lucas is the only person in a long while who's truly been able to surprise House, and it might be very interesting to see how their relationship evolves.